Drag and Drop Website BuilderWe are still working on the history of Pound Cottage but what we know is as follows:
In the 1841 census shows the head of the household as Mary Jones aged 65, a widow. In 1845 she sells the house to Edward Richards for £17. According to the deeds Mary was married to John Jones who had died but we don’t know when. £17 was about the annual pay for a cook.
In1848 the Powys Estate put much of their land up for sale, whilst Pound Cottage was not part of their estate the land behind was and the Pound Cottage was marked as owned by Levy Homes, I have found a marriage of Levy Home in 1812 and in 1851 he was living in Church Street but I have not found a connection to Mary Jones. He is also shown owning a field opposite.
In 1849 the will of Edward Richards gives “The messuage, garden and premises near the Pound in Bishops Castle to my daughter Margaret” and “The Messuage, Garden and premises which I lately purchased from the Earl of Powis to my son Edward”. It is assumed from later documents that his daughter Margaret married and her surname became Weeks.
In 1869 Margaret is given a mortgage of £60 by Edward Edwards. The house is said to be in the occupation of “ Lucas” . Sometime around this time the house was modernised with a brick front and stable block, we have no evidence of when this was done but perhaps this was the reason for the mortgage as the house seems to have jumped in value from £17 in 1845 to £120 in 1873.
In 1873 Edward Edwards bought the house by paying Margaret Weeks a further £40 19s 10d plus £9 10s 2d expenses. He paid the remaining £9.10s to make up £120 which was presumably the value of the improved house. At the time the house was let to Ann Lucas.
In 1879 the house is sold by Edwards to Jeremiah Hughes for £125. In 1880 Hughes also buys the back garden from his neighbour William Bird for £15.
In 1890 Hughes dies in the house, his death certificate records him as a farm labourer, however he was previously recorded as a farm bailiff and his estate was valued at £246 so he was quite well off. He was also described as a Yeoman. He leaves the house during her lifetime to his widowed sister Jane and in trust to her son Sam Cornes.
In 1891 a nuisance order is issued to “Richard Nicholas” of Pound Cottage for keeping a pig which was against the byelaws
In 1906 Jane Cornes dies and the house passes to her son Sam. The picture opposite we assume shows Sam with his wife.
In 1950 Sam Cornes dies and he leaves the house to his nephews daughter Gladys Radford, a teacher, who has been looking after him.
2010 Gladys Radford was now 91 and can no longer manage in a house with little heating and an outside toilet, she moves into Stonehouse and the house is put up for auction. It is bought by Dave Crowson, a gliding instructor at the Long Mynd Club. He strips all the inside, gets an architect to draw up plans for it’s restoration which gets planning approval but then does little else.
2015 Dave Crowson puts up a ‘For Sale’ sign and Gill and John Lucas buy the house, by now it is derelict. After a years solid work the house is completed in July 2016 and Lucy Jones and Ben Beddoes move in as tenants.
The picture shows Gladys Radford (in the red slippers) with her family visiting the house in 2017 to have a look at the restoration.
2018 Gill and John finally sell their existing house (The Porch House) and move into Pound Cottage at Christmas 2018.
2019 Gladys Radford celebrates her 100th birthday in Stonehouse.
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